Jean Monnet Open Online Course of European Integration: Economic Development

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Development has been one of the most lively and challenging areas in economics and the EU is increasingly recognised as a key actor in this field both within and outside its borders. Recent advances in research have re-introduced some age-old questions and created new ones. This course will take you through an exciting journey that will acquaint you with new ideas and new ways of answering fundamental questions about the economics of developing countries and regions in the context of European integration. How will the EU association agreement affect economic development across Ukrainian regions? What is trade diversion? What are the costs and benefits of the euro? Why does EU regional policy have so many objectives? Who is Brazil's first trading partner? How will Brexit affect India and Nigeria? Why does Romania's economy grow faster than France's or Moldova's? Why are increases in the take-up rate of asylum applications not likely to solve the EU migrant crisis? Why are interest rates higher in Ukraine than in Germany? How can citizens and business interests influence EU development policy? Does EU development aid foster or hinder democracy?

This open online course aims to provide an introduction to European integration and economic development and is especially suitable for students in developing countries and regions that are not generally exposed to EU studies in their degrees, either because of the topic of their studies (e.g. agriculture, engineering, medicine) or because of their country of origin (e.g. EU Neighbourhood countries). This course is divided in three parts. The first part offers an overview of what the EU is and what it does in the different policy fields (the single market and efficiency, structural funds and redistributive policies, and home and foreign policies). The second part focuses exclusively on economic development and deals with economic growth, inequality, population movements, the dual economy, or development aid. Finally, the third part focuses on EU institutions and politics, the relations between the EU and its citizens, and the role of the EU in the promotion of economic development and democracy.

Topics:

1. What is the European Union and how can we study it? Introduction to the scientific study of the EU. 2. Efficiency policies. The single market. Economic and Monetary Union. Other efficiency policies: competition, transport, environment, fisheries. 3. Redistributive policies. The EU budget. Regional policy. Social policy. Common agricultural policy. 4. Home and foreign affairs: immigration, asylum, Schengen, trade policy, enlargement, European Neighbourhood Policy. 5. What is economic development and how can we measure it? Economic growth, inequality, poverty and development. 6. Economic growth. the Neoclassical growth model. Alternative growth models. Endogenous growth. Poverty traps. Empirical evidence. Conditional convergence. 7. Population and development. The dual economy: the Lewis model. Rural-urban migration: the Harris-Todaro model. 8. Rural markets. Land, labour, capital, and insurance. 9. International trade, international finance, and development. 10. Does development aid help or hinder development? EU regional policy. EU development policy. 11. EU institutions and policy making: legislative, executive and judicial politics. 12. The citizen connection: public opinion, elections and lobbying. 13. The EU, economic development, and democratization.

This project has been carried out with the support of the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union. The content of this project does not necessarily reflect the position of the European Union, nor does it involve any responsibility on the part of the European Union.